Pitching Machines:
Good or Bad?

Many teams use the pitching machine to work with their teams. So, are they good or bad to use? Fastpitch World decided to throw in their opinion on the subject.

We feel that for little league teams the pitching machine is great. It can build confidence and teach the kids to see the ball. It will help them to develop a lack of fear of a ball being thrown at them and let's face it, it is just plain fun. Most of these young kids are not at the age of worrying about their mechanics so for this age group we love the machine.

School ball and travel ball however, we find to be very different as far as machines go. For this age group we are not very fond of the machine. Most of the time coaches are just dropping the ball in the machine and allowing the kids to hit away. This tends to make the focus hitting the ball and not hitting the ball the right way (there is a big difference between the two).

How many times have you heard a coach say lets turn the machine up because the pitcher we are facing throws hard. This leads us to our reasoning about not liking machines. If you really watch a practice that uses a pitching machine, you will start to notice players breaking down mechanically trying to catch up to a ball. They will begin to also get way ahead of the pitch anticipating the next ball and start hitting off their front foot or swinging totally off balance.

Now this next statement may get me in trouble with my wife but here goes. My wife does not have an athletic bone in her body but if she keeps putting in coins she will eventually hit the ball, does that mean she can hit? We are professional coaches and like many other coaches will not use the machine unless we can stay right on top of the hitter and make sure they do not break down mechanically.

We always recommend to our hitters to stay away from the machine when they are not with us and most of the time it's funny how we can tell when they have been using one because mechanically they are all over the place. We then have to spend lesson time fixing what broke down in their swings instead of moving ahead in their quest to become a good hitter.

We love to use the machine to teach bunting because we feel it really allows us to break players down mechanically. Otherwise, we don't touch them.

Our opinion is that pitching machines are great for little leaguers and can be very dangerous for school and travel players. If you are fortunate to have a coach that can stay by your side and make sure there is no break down and you can follow the plan you are working on, then by all means use the machine. If you have a coach that uses the machine and is all over the place talking to other players, parents or even just putting the ball in the machine, stay away. This will not improve your ability and it will definitely break or slow you down.